After Herzog: blurring fact and fiction in visual organizational ethnography
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to introduce the unique artistic approach of film-maker Werner Herzog as an inspiration to rethink ethnographic studies in general and the notion of reflexivity in particular.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper reviews the particularities of Werner Herzog’s approach to filmmaking, linking them to the methodological tradition of visual ethnography and especially the debate about the role of reflexivity and performativity in research.
Findings
Herzog’s conceptualization of meaning as “ecstatic truth” offers an avenue for visual organizational ethnographers to rethink reflexivity and performativity, reframe research findings and reorganize research activities. The combination of multiple media and the strong authorial involvement exhibited in Herzog’s work, can inspire and guide the development of “meaningful” organizational ethnographies.
Originality/value
The paper argues that practicing visual organizational ethnography “after Herzog” offers researchers an avenue to engage creatively with their research in novel and highly reflexive ways. It offers a different way to think through some of the challenges often associated with ethnographic research.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
Portions of this paper were presented at the 2014 Colloquium of the European Group for Organizational Studies in Rotterdam and the 2015 Academy of Management Annual Meeting in Orlando, FL.
Citation
Walz, M., Hoyer, P. and Statler, M. (2016), "After Herzog: blurring fact and fiction in visual organizational ethnography", Journal of Organizational Ethnography, Vol. 5 No. 3, pp. 202-218. https://doi.org/10.1108/JOE-07-2016-0017
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2016, Emerald Group Publishing Limited